Meet the Team: Myeisha Boyd

Hello There! I’m Myeisha. My interest in politics began during my sophomore year of college when I was a Casework Intern for Senator Richard Blumenthal. This is where my passion for public service and advocacy emerged. I truly felt as though I was making a difference by communicating with government agencies on behalf of constituents. For anyone who has an interest in politics, Washington, D.C. is the place to be! During my junior year of college, I was a participant of the Washington Semester Program at American University. I was so excited because I was in the perfect city to apply everything I was learning in the classroom to outside of the classroom and, not to mention, election season was right around the corner. This would be the first presidential election I could vote in, and I planned to get campaign experience prior to the 2016 presidential election.

While I was studying at American University, my course required me to attend congressional hearings and write observational research papers of the hearing. I became frustrated with the inability of Congress to work together and negotiate potential bills in the best interest of the people as a whole. At the conclusion of the Washington Semester Program, I had witnessed first hand the problems within Congress and our democracy as a whole. I did not give up on our government; I came back to the University of Hartford in Connecticut for my senior year and worked as a Legislative Aide Intern for Mayor Luke Bronin of Hartford, CT. I was interested in learning how effective the local government was with implementing policies that their residents cared about.

Along with being a Legislative Aide Intern for Mayor Bronin, I was also a Field Organizer for the Hillary Clinton campaign in Hartford, CT. The position included recruiting and managing a statewide volunteer base, phone banking for Connecticut and other battleground states, and electronically keeping track of voter support. It was a great learning experience and gave me the confidence to speak with diverse groups of people. Politics has so many different areas but it was not until the 2016 Presidential Election that I became interested in election reform.

The ideas of voting for the “lesser of the two evils” or “voting against a candidate” were common themes that I came across in this past election. I started to question the true meaning of the term democracy and how the Founding Fathers interpreted it. I also questioned how I could live in a country that models itself on the principles of a democracy, yet only 45-55% of the eligible voting population has found its way to a polling booth over the previous four presidential elections. It’s easy to see that something is broken in American politics, it’s harder to figure out the best way to fix it.

I am happy to be the Communications Fellow for FairVote. I couldn’t be more excited to work with a group of people who look beyond political parties and advocate for electoral reforms that give voters “a greater choice, a stronger voice, and a representative democracy that works for all Americans.” I look forward to working with talented individuals who are dedicated to electoral reform.